Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-23
WOMEN RULING i CITY.
And Doing 1t Fully as Well as Masculine
Officials Gould.

And Doing 1t Fully as Well as Masculine
Officials Gould.
| salina Kan.l Letter To Memphis Appeal.
l have just returned from trip on the
Santa Re Road west. Syracuse, sixteen
miles from the Colorado line, was the
Mecca of my pilgrimage, because here
! April they elected q City Council of
women, and was bent upon seeing the
town that had made this innovation and
the women who were filing the Coun-
/ Gil chairs. I wanted TO ask the people
how it came about, and how il was
working. The first of these ladies' INTRO
duced TO me was Mrs. +. B. Barbour, q
! fair-faCed, gentle-manneTed woman, with
an unmistsksble air Of business about
her. l found this accounted for by the
fact that she is business woman. Her
husband does large and complicated
business. The books are entirely in her
charge. Mrs. II. D Mott is q business
woman, too. | expect much OF Mrs
Mott in the management OF their Suffrage
Society, because of her experience III Iowa
as president OF the Eighth District
Woman Suffrage Society. Mrs. Cogge-
shall says they were very sorry TO lose
| Mrs. Mott from their ranks. She Is chair
man of the Syracuse aldermaniC force.
Mrs. NJ. NJ. Riggles is quiet little wO.
man, 3 careful and conscientious mother
and housewife. She has way Of max
| ing up her mind for herself and standing
/ firmly by her convictions She has 8
reputation among Syracuse male citizens
| for being person of excellent Judgment.
| Mrs. S. n. COe is a woman of excellent
! ability. with enough conservatism to
| keep her enthusiasm in proper
check. No one of these women
is more anxious to do exactly
right than is Mrs, Coe. She is sister TO
Mrs. Lemort, president of the Saxon
| Equal Suffrage Society, organized Of
| Dodge City by Mrs. Saxon aad named
after her. She has several such name
sakcs in Kansas. Mrs. L. NJ. SWart-
wood, the fifth member, l did not see, al
| though l made 81 effort to do so. She
was confined to her home by sickness /;
! but | am told that she IS woman of
ability, and By no means behind her sis
! tiers in any requisite for her position.
My short acquaintance with these women
convinced me that sitting IL Council
chairs and wrestling with questions of
city policy have had no effect To unseX
| them-Whatever that may be-foT these
were as wOmenIy women as | have ever
seen. looked in vain for masculine ten
! denotes There Yves net hint Of IL 10
dress or manner. Meeting them on the
streets or IN the cars, you would never
gness that they we're CITY OffiCisls. From
conversation with them learned that they
were exceedingly anxious to mske their
| administrations just one-one that would
advance the best interests Of the city; and
| when they spoke OF advancing the inter
ests of their city they betrayed the fact
that they hsd in mind the ciJy'5 moral
as well as temporal prosperity. 1t is said
of them that they are doing better work
than the body Of men who composed the
previous Council. Their towpspeo-
pie say they were elected
because "somebody proposed it and
every 7Ody was pleased with the idea"
because "it was believed they would
make excellent oficers;" because 1.-The
! temperate people thought women
wouldn't be afraid to enforce the pro-
hibitory laW:" because "we wanted TO
advertise our town"-this fact from q
member of real estate firm; because
"women would take time to do the work
we'll and thoughtfully." Altogether, l
was pleased with my first sight OF 3
woman council. This is the only one in
the United States.